First Love First Love

by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0140443355 Global Overview for this book
Registered by han_cat of Leeds, West Yorkshire United Kingdom on 1/26/2014
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This book is in the wild! This Book is Currently in the Wild!
5 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by han_cat from Leeds, West Yorkshire United Kingdom on Sunday, January 26, 2014
Interesting classic work, not really my cup of tea but a suitable romance release.

Released 10 yrs ago (1/28/2014 UTC) at Monthly BookCrossing Meet Up in York in York, North Yorkshire United Kingdom

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Releasing at the January meetup

Journal Entry 3 by Chuggypig at York, North Yorkshire United Kingdom on Sunday, May 25, 2014
Ooops, been a bad bookcrosser. Picked this up at the January meetup, still to read it.

Released 9 yrs ago (10/28/2014 UTC) at Brigantes Bar & Brasserie OBCZ / Meetup Venue in York, North Yorkshire United Kingdom

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I went through a real phase a few years ago of reading lots of Russian authors, and this reminded me why. They're flipping amazing.

First Love tells the story of a young man's love for the girl next door. But she's troubled and in need of attention from a series of suitors. Turgenev shows the headiness of adolescent love, of its desperate obsession. Fabulous and tragic.

To be released at the monthly York Bookcrossing meetup.

Released 9 yrs ago (2/24/2015 UTC) at Brigantes Bar & Brasserie OBCZ / Meetup Venue in York, North Yorkshire United Kingdom

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Picked this up a while ago and read it in a day. I thought it was good and want to read more by the author. Will take along for Feb's short story meetup.

Journal Entry 6 by Apechild at York, North Yorkshire United Kingdom on Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Sounds interesting...

Journal Entry 7 by Apechild at York, North Yorkshire United Kingdom on Sunday, March 1, 2015
I don't think you have to be Russian to have seen this story in action. It's a tale that's been on repeat since the start of the human race, and I'm sure it will continue well on into the future. The young, flirty girl, who enjoys having lots of men running around after her to inflate her ego, but an inability to connect with women, and will ultimately either die young or end up as some old hysterical woman everyone mocks behind her back (in this tale, her own mother).

It is also, as the title suggests, a tale of first love, and the obsession and the crushing unrealistic nature of it all. Vladimir Petrovich is a young 16 year old naive Russian boy of a well to do family. On his summer hols, a poverty stricken, aristocratic mother and daughter move in next door. He falls head over heels with the daughter, Princess Zinaida, and simpers and sobs over her and runs about after her like a little puppy dog. All rather pathetic, but I suppose we've all had our regretable moments in our teens. Zinaida emotionally feeds off this stuff, and plays with him and a selection of other men who come fawning to her every day and strut about like little roosters, trying to look like the best man of the group. And she has them all wrapped around her little finger, quite literally in Vladimir's case. There's this wonderful bit when she's in a temper and literally yanks a tuft of hair out of his head. "She carefully straightened the torn lock, curled it around her finger and twisted it into a little ring" (p 66).

She doesn't get on with women, as I guess they are competition and can't feed her ego in the way men can. She and Vladimir's mother never get on from the word go, his mother taking an immediate dislike, and the princess being little Miss Snooty-pants whenever she pops by. In consideration of what transpires, his mother has good reason not to like the girl.

I guess we all have to learn from our mistakes, and poor old Vladimir has to have his innocence shattered with the age old lesson 'love stinks', with a galling betrayal as Zinaida trots off after the man who isn't constantly playing court to her.

Marvellous short story/novella, but my, what a character to hate! (Me being female, I guess I was never going to get along with Zinaida =) )

Released 8 yrs ago (5/23/2015 UTC) at Brigantes Bar & Brasserie OBCZ / Meetup Venue in York, North Yorkshire United Kingdom

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Taking this to a little bookcrossers' gathering tomorrow in celebration of Kirjakko's 50th birthday!

Journal Entry 9 by wingNu-Kneeswing at Knaresborough, North Yorkshire United Kingdom on Sunday, May 24, 2015
I chose this from the many books available when a group of BookCrossers got together in Brigantes with kirjakko and her friend who were visiting York from Finland, because:
- I enjoy reading the classics, I think the discipline is good for my soul, although I'm not as slavish about reading one a month as I was for a few years until recently
- I've been particularly impressed with some Russian clasics, particularly War and Peace and Anna Karenina
- the only Turgenev I've read is Fathers and Sons which I enjoyed
- and it's surprisingly short for its time and place!

Journal Entry 10 by wingNu-Kneeswing at Knaresborough, North Yorkshire United Kingdom on Tuesday, July 14, 2015
It's never a good idea to read the Introduction before the story - and this is no exception! It really should be printed at the end!
A painful tale of first love in the summer of 1883, age 16, in the Russian countryside.

Left with the other books on the book swap shelves in this delightful cafe this afternoon. I was pleased to see how well-stocked they are at the moment!

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